


Swelling Storm

by bi_hargrove



Series: Ride or Die [1]
Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Best Friends, Eventual Romance, F/M, Friends to Lovers, POV Second Person, Reader-Insert
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-19
Updated: 2018-06-19
Packaged: 2019-05-25 17:03:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,033
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14981633
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bi_hargrove/pseuds/bi_hargrove
Summary: in which sweet pea and his best friend are both oblivious idiots who have heart eyes for each other





	Swelling Storm

**Author's Note:**

> the title comes from "waves" by dean lewis. this whole series is very loosely based on the song as well. (emphasis on very loosely)

you had known sweet pea since you were both knobby-kneed first graders with wide eyes and more innocence than you knew what to do with. you met on the first day of school when mrs. conners suggested that the two of you worked together to build a block castle, and you had been attached at the hip ever since.

 

you had been there for each other through everything. sweet pea was there for you when your parents split up and your dad moved across the country, leaving you behind as nothing more than a distant memory as he started a whole new family. and you were sweet pea’s support system when his mom became sick. you were by his side during all of those long nights spent by her bedside in the hospital, through the visits with doctors who told him that her condition wasn’t getting any better, and you shed a river of tears with him when she succumbed to the cancer after months of fighting.

 

of course, you shared good times as well. sweet pea always cheered the loudest at your volleyball games. you supported and encouraged him during his induction into the southside serpents. you didn’t always agree with some of the mishaps that he got himself into, but you were always there to help him clean up all of his cuts and scrapes afterwards.  

 

it was always “ _sweet pea and y/n”,_ one of you never seen without the other one close by.

 

but that was all about to change.

 

you both were nearing the end of your senior year at riverdale high. your plans following graduation were set; sweet pea had gotten early acceptance into the engineering program at purdue university and you had been accepted to university of washington to study english. you were literally moving in two completely different directions and, honestly, it scared the shit out of you.

 

the realization had fully hit you when you had gotten your acceptance letter. you were scared of losing the bond that you had formed with your best friend of over a decade. and then, because apparently this was a time of all kinds of realizations, it dawned on you that you viewed sweet pea as more than _just a friend._

 

when you burst into the whyte wyrm one thursday afternoon after school with a panicked look on your face and without sweet pea at your side, toni sensed something was wrong and told you to spill. after a bit of a struggle on your end, you managed to get your confession out.

 

“i...i think, god i can’t believe this - _jesus..._ i think i...love sweet pea.”

 

toni giggled and grinned at you. “i _know_ you love sweet pea. everyone has known that for ages,” she said, shocking you. “well, everyone except for SP. he’s just as oblivious as you are.”

 

fangs overheard toni and jumped into the conversation.

 

“he totally is! he hasn’t realized it yet, but he’s head over heels in love with you too.”

 

armed with the knowledge that you loved your best friend and he loved you back, you should have done something to make that change in your relationship. but you did what you did best; you overthought. you worried about what would happen to your friendship if you and sweet pea tried dating and it didn’t work out. and then you realized that you were getting ahead of yourself with that worry. you couldn’t be completely sure that he felt the same way that you did. maybe fangs and toni misread things and sweet pea didn’t see you as more than a best friend. so, you decided to not say anything to him about how you felt. being best friends would just have to be enough because you didn’t want to risk losing that relationship.

 

\----

 

“y/n!”

 

you turned your attention from the contents of your messy locker to glance over your shoulder. sweet pea was about halfway down the hallway, but was quickly making his way toward you, your fellow classmates making sure to step aside to let him pass. because you had known him since he was a quiet, gap-toothed six year old who had an unhealthy obsession with bambi the deer, you often forgot that sweet pea was feared by most people because of his imposing height and quick temper.

 

you zipped up your backpack and turned back around to slam your locker shut. as you shouldered your bag, a pair of arms wrapped around your waist and lifted you up from the ground.

 

“pea, no!” you squealed as a smile broke across your face. “put me down!”

 

his chest rumbled with laughter as he swung you around a final time before allowing your feet to touch the ground again. he swung his arm over your shoulders as you both moved to join the crowd in the middle of the hall, heading toward the classroom where your honors english class was held.

 

“so how did your science test go?” you asked, peering up at him.

 

his face scrunched up. “mr. thomas is trying to kill us, i swear. the test was seventy-five questions,” he complained as he rolled his eyes. “but i think i did okay. thanks to you, of course. what would i do without my genius best friend?”

 

he grinned down at you and you felt your heartbeat speed up.

 

“please, i barely did anything. i just helped you go over your notes, which you already knew backwards and forwards,” you reminded him. “you doing well on that test is all you, sweets. you’re a beast when it comes to physics.”

 

the smile on his face grew at your compliment and he pulled you even closer. you melted into his embrace as the two of you continued through the halls.

 

when you reached the cafeteria, you noticed a poster reminding everyone that prom tickets were to go on sale at the beginning of the following week. before you could stop yourself, you let out a quiet sigh as you tore your gaze from the poster.

 

you wanted to go to prom, really badly. and you wanted to go with sweet pea. but you knew that he would never be down to dress up and take you to some silly school dance. that just wasn’t something that you two did. but still, you had come up with daydreams of him showing up at your house with a corsage in hand to whisk you off to the country club so that the two of you could dance the night away, surrounded by all of your classmates. it was ridiculous, but a girl could dream.

 

a few minutes later, you and sweet pea reached your classroom. his arm dropped from your shoulder and you readjusted the straps of your backpack before you turned to head into the room. but before you could get far, sweet pea gripped your arm and pulled you back.

 

your eyebrows furrowed in confusion as you watched him scratch at the back of his neck with the hand that wasn’t holding on to you. he stared down at his boots as he mumbled something that you couldn’t quite catch.

 

“what did you say, pea? i couldn’t hear you.”

 

he looked up from his boots and his dark eyes caught yours. “i said...i know that prom is really lame, but i saw you looking at the poster and i was wondering if, uh, well...i was wondering if you wanted to go. with me.”

 

your heart pounded in your chest and your stomach flipped as it hit you that sweet pea had just made your little daydreams a reality.  

 

“i’d love to, sweets,” you said, trying your damnedest to keep your composure. “there’s no one else that i’d rather go with.”

 

you knew the many faces of your best friend. you were familiar with the threatening scowl that he pulled when someone pissed him off. the face full of heartbreak after he found out that stacy westall cheated on him with another guy was something that haunted you. you spent all of last semester giggling over the look of pure boredom mixed with a dash of annoyance caused by ms. rivard’s long-winded history lectures. and the carefree beam full of unadulterated happiness, which was becoming increasingly rare these days, was something that could turn even your shittiest days around.

 

but the shy grin that spread across sweet pea’s face after you accepted his invitation to prom was an expression that you had never seen before. but god, did you want to see it for every moment for the rest of your life.

 

the two of you stood in the middle of the hallway, staring at each other and grinning until mrs. fenmore cleared her throat loudly from the doorway of the classroom. you were broken from your trance and whipped around to face your english teacher.

 

“class is starting, miss y/l/n. say goodbye to your boyfriend,” she teased before winking. “sweet pea, get to class.”

 

a hot blush spread across your cheeks as you stuttered a farewell to sweet pea before dashing into the classroom. you could hear mrs. fenmore chuckling as she pulled the door closed.

 

\----

 

you paced the length of the living room for the umpteenth time as your mom sighed and mumbled something about wearing a hole in her rug under her breath.

 

“honey, he’ll be here soon,” she assured you, glancing up from her phone. “you told him to get here at six. it’s only quarter of.”

 

you stopped your pacing to shoot a frustrated look at her. “i know, but still...” you trailed off, not even knowing what you were so worked up about.

 

“is something wrong? you seem so nervous. it’s just pea.”

 

you hadn’t told your mom about your realization. other than toni and fangs, you hadn’t told _anyone_ about it. the more people that you talked about it with, the more real it became and you weren’t ready for it to become real.

 

“it’s nothing, mom, i just don’t want him to be late,” you lied.

 

to avoid more questions from your mom, you moved to the front hallway of the house to continue your pacing. a few more minutes passed before there was a knock at the door. your mom rushed in from the living room and practically hip checked you out of the way so that she could open the door. when she did, the deep breath that you had taken got caught in your throat and you sputtered a bit.

 

you were not blind and long before you realized your true feelings for your best friend, you had noticed that he was an attractive person. the stares he received from girls that you caught whenever you two were out together further proved that point. there was no doubt about it; sweet pea was hot.

 

but the way he looked standing in your doorway with that same shy smile from before on his face and your corsage in his hand was a whole new level of gorgeous. when he asked you to prom, you didn’t expect sweet pea to dress up in some fancy tux because that just wasn’t his style. the outfit that he came up with instead was the perfect compromise. he was wearing his standard tight black jeans and boots, along with his leather serpents jacket, but he swapped the usual t-shirt and flannel for a crisp white button up and a deep red tie that matched the color of your dress perfectly.

 

your heart swelled as you stared at your best friend. he was so breathtaking that you wanted to _cry._

 

“pea, you look so handsome!” your mom cooed while motioning for him to step inside.

 

sweet pea leaned down to wrap his arms around her in a hug. “thank you, mama,” he murmured, a slight blush dusting his cheeks.

 

after he released your mom from his grip, sweet pea took his first proper look at you. the redness in his cheeks deepened and the smile on his face grew.

 

“you look good, y/l/n,” he complimented as he reached for your hand and pulled you into his arms.

 

“thanks, sweets,” you mumbled. “i’m sure you already know how great you look.”

 

he chuckled. “i _may_ have gotten some second glances on my way over here.”

 

you gripped his _impressively thick_ forearms and took a step back to give him an exaggerated once over from the top of his neatly combed hair to the bottom of his scuffed boots, letting out a low whistle.

 

“there’s another one to add to the list,” you told him before bursting into a fit of giggles.

 

(you missed it because your eyes were closed, but your mom later told you that sweet pea had looked at you “like you put the stars in the sky” as you laughed.)

 

“c’mere so i can give you your corsage, you goof,” sweet pea ordered, grabbing for your hand.

 

he opened the small cardboard box that housed the corsage and reached in carefully to pull out the small bouquet. when your mom saw it, she let out a quiet gasp.

 

it was made of beautiful white flowers and you couldn’t believe that sweet pea had gone through the trouble of getting you such a nice corsage.

 

you held your left hand out for sweet pea and he slipped the corsage around your wrist.

 

“oh pea...” your mom murmured, sounding like she was close to tears. “it’s gorgeous.”

 

you glanced up from studying the flowers on your wrist to see sweet pea rubbing at the back of his neck and looking sheepish.

 

“it’s not that big of a deal. just some flowers,” he insisted.

 

your mom shot him a dubious look and you knew that something was up. but before you could raise any questions, your mom clapped her hands together and announced that it was time for pictures.

 

you took a few of the traditional pre-prom pictures, with you standing in front of sweet pea while he gingerly wrapped his arms around your waist. your mom continuously gushed over how cute the two of you looked.

 

after a few more pictures, you got tired of the cliche poses that your mom was directing you into. you dropped into a squatting position and clasped your hands in the prayer position in front of your face, while sweet pea stood behind you with his arms crossed over his chest and a menacing glower on his face.

 

“oh, for god’s sake... are you two serious?” your mom grumbled and rolled her eyes.

 

“just take the picture, mom!” you whined. “we wanna look cool.”

 

“i can tell you right now that’s not the way to do it,” she shot back, but took the picture anyway.

 

you reached your hand out to sweet pea and he grasped it before helping you back up to a standing position. he loosely wrapped his arms around your waist as you faced him and you placed your hands on his forearms once again. you looked up at him with a small smile on your face and he grinned down at you, his nose scrunched up from how big his smile was.

 

_god, he was cute._

 

“y/n, can i talk to you out here for a sec?” your mom asked, waving you into the front hallway.

 

you exchanged confused looks with sweet pea before you followed your mom. once you were out of sweet pea’s view, your mom latched onto your arms and started whispering excitedly.

 

“do you know what kind of flowers those are in your corsage?”

 

you shook your head.

 

“those are chrysanthemums. white ones traditionally symbolize devoted love and loyalty.”

 

you furrowed your brows and shrugged your shoulders. “okay? i’m sure pea didn’t know all of that when he bought them. he probably just figured they would go with my dress,” you said, not understanding why your mom was freaking out.

 

“oh no, he knew what they meant when he bought them, honey,” she insisted. “trust me.”

 

she looked at you knowingly and you stared back at her like she was crazy.

 

“mom, i can assure you that _sweet pea_ didn’t look into the symbolism of flowers when picking out which ones to get for my corsage,” you said slowly, enunciating each word so that they reached her all the way up in lala land. “ _trust me.”_

 

you patted her arm a few times before you turned to go back into the living room.

 

“alright, sweets, shall we get this show on the road?”

 

\----

 

surprisingly, riverdale high’s prom exceeded your expectations. not that you were expecting much, but you hadn’t anticipated that they would go all out.

 

fundraisers had been done by all of the sports teams and clubs in order to raise the funds to rent out the riverdale country club for the evening. the prom planning committee had decided on a great gatsby themed dance. the theme had certainly been done before, but they managed to put their own unique spin on it. the decorations were well thought out and didn’t scream ‘ _high school dance’_ and the music was actually enjoyable, thanks to the dj and live band combo that had been hired. and thankfully, the food was good, seeing as the committee had opted to do a meal of a variety of finger foods and snacks, rather than the usual dry chicken dinner.

 

all in all, prom was a success and you figured that the fact that veronica lodge and betty cooper were co-heads of the planning committee had everything to do with that. once those two girls put their minds to something, they did it _right._

 

“c’mon, pea, dance with me!” you pleaded as you pulled at your date’s arm.

 

he glanced up at you from his seated position at the table that you were sharing with fangs and his sort-of boyfriend, callum harrington, along with toni and cheryl blossom.

 

“it’ll be a cold day in hell before that happens,” he deadpanned as he popped a finger sandwich into his mouth. “i don’t dance and you know that.”

 

fangs chuckled. “remember that one time in middle school-“

 

sweet pea shot fangs a withering look that shut the smaller boy up instantly before turning his attention back to you.

 

“go dance with blossom,” he suggested as he pointed toward the redhead who was in the middle of doing some complicated looking routine for the small crowd that had surrounded her. “she looks like she knows what she’s doing.”

 

you tugged on his arm again and pouted your lips. “i don’t want to dance with someone who knows what they’re doing. i want to dance with you,” you whined.

 

your sly dig was not lost on sweet pea. he glared at you and opened his mouth to snap a counter jab back, but you cut him off with a loud gasp as a song that was very familiar to you began playing.

 

as soon as sweet pea recognized sir sly’s “high” he sighed loudly. it was one of your favorite songs and there was no way that he was going to get out of dancing with you now.

 

“well, i hope the devil has a jacket because it’s about to be chilly in hell,” you announced and grabbed sweet pea’s hand. “let’s go, sweets!”

 

you weaved through your classmates until you found a good spot on the outskirts of the dance floor.

 

something that you and sweet pea had in common was that neither of you could dance. the difference between the two of you was that you didn’t let that stop you from dancing, while your best friend wouldn’t even allow himself to tap his foot along to a song.

 

so when you started bopping around and singing along, while sweet pea stood frozen in his spot, you weren’t surprised.

 

“you’ll enjoy this experience a lot more if you dance instead of standing there like a skyscraper,” you teased as you danced around his stiff body.

 

“too bad i don’t dance.”

 

“it’s not as scary as you’re making it out to be,” you assured him as you reached for both of his hands. surprisingly, he didn’t fight you and let you lace your fingers through his. “besides, no one is even looking at us to see you dancing. just let loose a bit, pea.”

 

you did a little shimmy, then lifted sweet pea’s arms and guided him into doing a semi-shimmy of his own. you continued prodding him to loosen up and try some more dance moves. by the second chorus, he was kind of dancing. granted, his moves weren’t all that great, but he was relaxed and appeared to be enjoying himself.

 

when the next song began, he surprisingly didn’t try to rush off the dance floor. he continued to sway around to the pounding bass, a grin threatening to take over his face.

 

“told you you’d have more fun if you danced,” you boasted as you did a little twirl around him.

 

“try not to sound so smug, babe.”

 

you rolled your eyes and stuck your tongue out at him.

 

the two of you continued to dance for a few more songs, sweet pea becoming more comfortable with each passing song. but when a slow song came on, you both decided to call it quits and head back to your table. you were the only ones there, but you still ended up sharing a seat, as you curled up on sweet pea’s lap. you watched everyone out on the dance floor and made comments here and there, while sweet pea continued to chow down on finger sandwiches and mini cupcakes.

 

after a while, you began to grow bored. you felt like you had gone through enough of the prom experience to be satisfied. your daydreams of dancing with sweet pea had become a reality and that’s all you could have asked for.

 

“do you want to head out of here?” you asked, craning your neck to glance at sweet pea. “i’m getting kinda tired.”

 

he was in the middle of chewing, so he nodded his head until he was done. “yeah, we can leave if you want,” he mumbled.

 

you got down from his lap and smoothed out the skirt of your dress while you waited for him to pull his serpents jacket on. once he had, he reached for your hand and laced your fingers together.

 

“we should let the others know that we’re leaving,” you suggested.

 

“i’ll text fangs and tell him to let everyone else know,” sweet pea said as he slipped his phone out of his jacket pocket. “hold on a sec.”

 

you watched him out of the corner of your eye while he shot off a text to his other best friend. over the course of the night, his hair had become tousled and he even had that one little curl hanging in his eyes that you were especially fond of. you always teased him and said that it made him look like a ‘50s greaser, but you secretly thought it was hot as hell.

 

“why are you staring?” he asked, jolting you from your thirsty thoughts. “do i have something on my face?”

 

you shook your head as you felt your cheeks go red. “it’s nothing. let’s just go,” you mumbled and tugged on his hand.

 

the two of you headed out of the country club and to sweet pea’s motorcycle. he handed you your helmet and you strapped it on before climbing onto his harley and wrapping your arms around his midsection.

 

when sweet pea first got his motorcycle, you had refused to ride it. motorcycles had always scared you and you weren’t too crazy about sweet pea riding one either. you had heard too many stories of people getting into terrible accidents and you didn’t want your best friend to become one of those people. but with time and a _lot_ of convincing from sweet pea, you finally gave in and let him take you on a short ride. you had clung to him for dear life and kept your eyes squeezed shut the whole time, but it wasn’t as scary as you had originally thought it was going to be. after many more rides, you finally got over your fear of motorcycles. in fact, most of the time that sweet pea was seen riding around town now, you were sitting behind him with your arms around him.

 

as the two of you rode through the empty streets of riverdale, you turned your head to rest your cheek on the soft leather of sweet pea’s jacket. once you had gotten over your initial fear of riding on a motorcycle, you realized how enjoyable it actually was. there was something about zipping down roads and watching everything pass you by in a blur. it was ten times better late at night when there was barely anyone else on the road and there was that certain stillness that late night hours brought. you would never admit it to sweet pea because he would just gloat about being right, but you had come to love riding around on his harley.

 

soon, you crossed over from the northside of riverdale to the southside, which both you and sweet pea called home. it broke your heart that in just a few months, both of you would be leaving the town that you had grown up in. sure, you were leaving to start the next exciting chapter of your lives, but even that fact didn’t help stop the ache.

 

sweet pea turned in onto your street and slowed as your house came into view. you and your mom lived in a small ranch style house in the nicer part of the southside. you had lived in the house for your whole life, as your parents bought it three months before you were born. that house held so many memories for you and you knew that it was going to be hard to leave it behind.

 

sweet pea pulled into the driveway and cut the engine. you took off your helmet, then dismounted the bike. over the course of your ride home, your mood had taken a complete 180. you got caught up in thinking about leaving your friends, family, and hometown behind, and it put you in an awful mood. you just wanted to crawl into bed and try to turn your thoughts off for a little while.

 

you started to head for your house, but sweet pea grabbed your hand and pulled you back. “you’re not even gonna say bye?” he accused, his tone light and teasing.

 

but when you turned back around and he saw the look on your face, he put all his jokes aside.

 

“y/n, what’s up?”

 

you rubbed your free hand over your tired eyes, quickly wiping away the tears that were starting to leak out of the corners.

 

“nothing,” you mumbled, your voice wobbling. “i’m just tired.”

 

“bullshit. you’re lying to me.”

 

your mouth dropped open when you heard the harsh tone that sweet pea was using with you. when you uncovered your eyes, you caught the way that he was glaring at you. he had _never_ looked at you with so much malice in the entire time that you had known him.

 

“why are you so angry all of the sudden?” you asked, not particularly liking the way he was looking at you.

 

“why are you being so secretive all of the sudden?” he shot back. “you’ve been keeping something from me for weeks. you’re always whispering about shit with toni and fangs, but as soon as i show up, you all stop. i know that something’s up.”

 

ever since you had told toni about your feelings for sweet pea, she and fangs had been pushing you to say something to him. you had gotten into countless arguments about it over the past few weeks. and sweet pea always seemed to show up right in the middle of these arguments. you could understand how he thought that something was going on behind his back, but, still, you didn’t appreciate him coming at you about it in such an aggressive manner all of the sudden. you were tired and sad, and you didn’t want to get into it with him right now.

 

you crossed your arms over your chest. “i don’t know what you’re talking about,” you lied, looking at the space above sweet pea’s head.

 

he let out a growl and smacked his hand down on his bike. “are you fucking serious right now, y/n? since when do we lie to each other?” he asked.

 

you stayed silent as you continued to stare right above his head. you knew that if you looked at him, you would break.

 

“so you’re just not going to say anything?”

 

you bit down on your bottom lip and closed your eyes as you hugged yourself tighter.

 

“i swear, if you don’t say something in the next thirty seconds, i’m leaving,” sweet pea threatened. “i mean it, y/n. i’ll leave.”

 

your eyes snapped back open and you finally looked at sweet pea. he had a scowl on his face and a dark look in his eyes.

 

this wasn’t the sweet pea that you knew and loved. before you was the sweet pea that people feared; the one with a quick temper and a brass knuckle in his pocket. you had been present before when something switched in him and his rage got the best of him. in fact, you were no stranger to it, but it had never been directed _at_ you. sweet pea was always so kind to you and he had promised you so many times before that he would never become that turbulent person with you.

 

“i don’t want to talk about it right now, _christopher,”_ you snapped as you felt your frustration bubble up within you.

 

sweet pea’s eyebrows quirked at your use of his birth name, but the look of surprise quickly passed and the grimace returned to his face.

 

“no, we’re talking about it now. i’ve been patient with you. i’ve waited _weeks_ for you to tell me what’s going on.”

 

you threw your hands up in frustration. “why do i have to tell you what’s going on? why are you so worried about it?” you asked, your voice becoming shrill.

 

“because we’re best friends and that’s what we’ve always done!” he yelled, his temper finally getting the best of him. he rose up from his motorcycle and stepped toward you. “it kills me that you don’t feel like you can come to me for help anymore. i’m supposed to be able to protect you!”

 

“get used to it, pea. you’re not going to be able to protect me from the big bad world if you’re halfway across the country from me!”

 

he drew back as though you had slapped him across his face.

 

“you’re fucking unbelievable, y/n,” he spat as he moved closer to tower over you, using his height as an intimidation factor. it was a tactic you had seen him use hundreds of times before with other people, but never did you think that he would do the same to you. “i knew it! i _knew_ you weren’t happy for me when you found out i was going to purdue. you’re jealous!”

 

you reached out and shoved him away from you. he stumbled backward, but you continued to come at him, pushing him and slapping his chest.

 

“fuck you! fuck you for even thinking that,” you screamed. “i am so incredibly proud of you for getting accepted and you _know_ that!”

 

he scoffed as he looked at you indignantly. “oh yeah, then what’s your problem?” he asked.

 

“my problem is that i’m terrified of losing you!”

 

you gave him a final shove before you turned and stormed up the driveway toward your house. never in the twelve years that you had known sweet pea had he ever made you as mad as you were in that moment. the fact that he could even _think_ that you wanted anything less than the best for him made your blood boil.

 

you made it to the steps of the front porch before you realized what you had said to him before you stomped off.

 

_shit._

 

you turned back around slowly to find him frozen in the middle of your driveway.

 

“pea...”

 

“we’ve been best friends for how long and you really think we’re just going to stop because of where we’re going to school?” he asked, his voice quiet. “c’mon, we’re better than that and you know it, y/n.”

 

your throat tightened as you felt more tears spring to your eyes. “how can you be so sure though? things happen, people grow apart,” you murmured.

 

“not us. we’ve been through too much shit together.” sweet pea pulled you into his arms. “i’m going to be sappy for a minute. if you tell anyone, i will deny it until i go to my grave. you and me are for life, y/n. like, ride or die type shit. we’re gonna grow old together, okay? you’re my favorite person in this whole world and i’m never going to let you go. i promise. and you know that i don’t break promises.”

 

you were full-on sobbing by the end of sweet pea’s speech. you clutched to the back of his serpents jacket tightly as you cried into the front of his shirt. he didn’t voice a single complaint and just held onto you while you cried.

 

the future still scared the crap out of you and there was still that nagging thought in the back of your head that you and sweet pea’s relationship was going to change once you started college. but sweet pea’s words did help alleviate your worries for right now.

 

obviously, the two of you were extremely close, but you had noticed a change in sweet pea over the past few years. the boy who used to live up to his nickname had hardened as he began to face the harsh realities of life head on. he became angrier and started to close himself off from most of those around him. not that you blamed him; between losing his mom and the whole situation that went down with his dad, you understood why sweet pea had put up his armor. a person could only take so much pain before it became too much, especially for someone so young.

 

but still, he didn’t talk about his feelings with you very often. of course, you knew that he cared about you. he made that much obvious with the way that he watched over you and was always there for you when you needed him to be. but you had no idea that he intended to be there for you like that forever. you didn’t realize that he considered you his ride or die.

 

there was a feeling in your gut that told you that you should tell him about the feelings that you harbored for him. he deserved to know that much.

 

but as you lifted your head from his chest and looked into his eyes, you couldn’t bring yourself to say it. you didn’t want to cause a strain on your relationship. this kind of friendship was a once in a lifetime deal and you didn’t want to mess it up. telling him about your feelings would only scare him and then your fears could very well become reality. and you didn’t think that you could handle that.

 

“i don’t know what i did to deserve you, but i’m so glad i have you, sweets,” you mumbled as you wiped under your eyes.

 

“you’ll always have me,” sweet pea said, his voice earnest. “don’t ever forget that.”

 

you wrapped your arms back around him for one more bone-crushing hug before you stepped back.

 

“spend the night?” you asked as you reached your hand out toward him.

 

he nodded and took your hand in his and laced your fingers together before the two of you headed up the driveway and into your house.

 

**Author's Note:**

> thank you so much for reading!
> 
> there will (hopefully) be at least two more parts to this series. i already started working on the next part and i'm hoping to have it up some time next week.
> 
> please let me know what you think so far in the comments!


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